Official Luthiers Forum!

Still trying to educate myself on the future projects I could foresee for the upcoming years: Is there somewhere one could find a set for the FE17 Antonio de Torres guitar? Thanks!

Hi flying red . You might have better luck posting your query on the Delcamp forum , (gotta register) lots of classical guitar makers and players

Thanks! Will follow your advice.

These may help

http://www.antoniodetorres.es/index.php?option=com_guitarbook&view=detail&id=26&Itemid=2
http://www.jitamen.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Plano_torres_1864-FE17-1.pdf

Good luck with your hunt

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

I have a drawing of the FE17 soundboard only, in PDF. If you'd like a copy, drop me a PM.

This was sent to me years ago by Douglas Ingram when I wanted to build an FE17, along with the soundboard diagram that Colin posted. I have built 3 of these and they are the best sounding guitars I have built. Hope this helps, Wendy

And some measurements made by Jason Wolverton from the original:

The nut width is 48 mm.
The fingerboard is 58 mm at the 12 fret.
The bridge is 164 mm long by 28 mm wide.
The saddle and tie block are 77 mm long.
The bridge wings are 44 mm long and rather thick (approx 5 mm)
The string spacing on the tie block is about 55.5 mm
There is a fair amount of doming in the lower bout, approximately 5 mm.
The back purfling goes in about 8 mm including the binding (which is thin at about 1 mm.)

A couple other things. Torres backs are typically 2.5mm or more, depending upon the species of wood, the particular piece, and its inherent qualities.
The sides should be between 1 and 2mm. The thin sides contribute to the "open"quality. Its difficult to make absolute statements about the thickness of the top as so much depends upon the particular piece of wood, but 2.5mm center and thinning to 1.5mm at the perimeter works as a guideline. Experience will inform future builds.

With the 5mm doming that Jason measured, I worked out that there is NO forward angle to the neck.
I have to provide this bit of information. I have built a number of guitars before exploring FE17, and I thought that they sounded pretty good. And they did, until I built this guitar. No they all sound like crap. At least they do relative to this guitar

Before I write anymore, I do have to point out that I am indebted to the generous offering of help and experience that I received from Gerhard Oldiges, in making the tornavoz something more that an anachronism. Read my Delcamp forum build thread and you will learn all that I know, and with pictures!

The overall sound is very rich, like good dark chocolate compared to milk chocolate. The bass is very profound, the mids clear, and the trebles sound like so clear and pure compared to anything else that I have built. Everyone who has heard it, and so far that comprises only non-guitar people, the ALL notice this. Last week I showed it to a friend who confessed that he can't hear the difference of one guitar to another (they all sound like guitars...), well he could hear it. He said that the other guitars struggled to put the sound out all over the room, while the FE17 shot it out like a laser, in addition to just sounder richer.

The volume is excellent, as is evenness across the strings. Sound is very quick, you don't need to work to get the guitar to respond, and the sustain is also very good.

My wife, who is a cello player, has noted the qualities of this guitar, saying that if I specialize in only one guitar, it should be this one.

Not bad for a guitar made with no new money, $32 if I account for the materials actual value, and using wood that no serious luthier could make a salable guitar from: White Pine and Green Ash. Makes me wonder what the results will be if I build with "good" materials?
Good luck!

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Douglas Ingram